coulrophobe

The roses hit me first - and for me, that's never a good thing. I can sense something else, making it warm and resiny; perhaps some amber? But as it dries down, a weird sour note flits around in the background. To my nose, this is vinegar and roses. I feel like I'm eating fries with malt vinegar while wearing rose/amber perfume. While I love fries with vinegar, I don't want to smell like them, and I certainly don't want to smell like roses, either. Not for me!

From the color of the oil, I expected patchouli... but I got rootbeer, like several of the reviews above. Must be sassafras! On my skin, I'm also getting black musk, and maybe some herbs, and a bit of vanilla. It's an unusual scent, but oddly compelling. Clean, fizzy, and definitely quirky. I like it, but it's not something I'd wear too often. Another one that is a bit masculine, and therefore would probably smell fabulous on someone of the masculine persuasion, though I do like it on me as well.

To me, this is the smell of leather and clean skin - masculine and a bit soapy (not at all a bad thing in my book). It reminds me of Les Infortunes de la Vertu, which I also found to be a soapy leather smell. Nice on me, but would be even better on a fella.

I'm going as a phoenix - but sadly, Black Phoenix won't work because of the dreaded almonds (and, I'm a *red* phoenix!). The Living Flame, maybe? Last night I forgot about being all thematic and just wore Devil's Night, while my guy buddy wore Samhain '05.

The first time I tried The Raven (back in spring or early summer, I think), I remember my reaction being that it didn't smell at all dark and ominous, but rather like a soft, light floral, barely there on my wrist. Maybe I was having a bad nose day, or something, because while it's still predominantly floral on my skin, it's much more assertive. The violet (and to a lesser extent, the iris) is very noticeable to me, triggering the "ooooh, purple!" response in my brain. The musk/sandalwood is very subdued on me, but provides a nice base. There's a sharpness flitting around the edges - I'm assuming that's the neroli, which is a bit troublesome with my chemistry. All in all, it's a nice violet blend, but a bit strong and sharp. I think I'd like it more without the neroli, and with a bit less violet and a bit more iris. But it's still quite pleasant.

Preconceived notions: I'm not the biggest fan of anise, so this may be disasterous, but I'm willing to try anything once, at least when it comes to BPAL. In the imp: I'm smelling strong, sweet anise and cherry... do cherry blossoms even smell like cherry? I have no idea. Maybe I'm projecting, the way people often smell "orange" from orange blossom. On: Total change. I smell no anise now, and nothing even vaguely cherry - the sandalwood comes out strongest, with something clean, sharp and fresh on top of it (an interesting contrast to the warm smokey sandalwood). But just when I think I'm safe, the evil anise rears its head, slowly overpowering the sandalwood... and I wind up smelling like those "Good & Plenty" candies. I wind up with sweet, vaguely smokey-floral licorice. Well, I had to try.

2005 vintage: I've smelled the '04 blend, but have never actually tried it on my skin, so I can't compare the two. In the bottle: A bit floral; I'm having a hard time really smelling it and figuring out the notes. On me: Much more perfumey than I expected. This is a well-blended floral, and I agree with Shelldoo that it's a bit lily-like, maybe that's the cactus flower? (Up here in drizzly Washington, I don't get to smell a lot of cactus flower, so I'm not sure what they're like!). I don't really smell much of the foody notes, which is fine with me as cocoa always goes wrong on my skin. I can catch a few whiffs as it dries down, but it's more of an underlying deepness, rather than the dusty dry fake chocolate (think Flake bars) I get from blends like Bliss - this is a more mocha-like chocolate. So sweet, yet rich, a bit smokey... I'm surprised how much I like this, as I was scared of the foody notes! It's quite pretty, and very autumnal.

Since I never reviewed my '04 bottle, I'll do a side-by-side '04/'05 comparison right here. Out of the bottle, '05 smells a bit more piney - that would be the fir needle. It's sharper than the '04 vintage - almost medicinal to my nose. On: While both are spicy autumnal scents, Samhain '04 is "rounder" and sweeter to my nose; I can smell the apple and pumpkin much more, and the fir and patchouli stay in the background. The '05 blend loses the medicinal quality I smelled in the bottle, but it's darker, chillier and wilder than the '04 version; while it's still spicy and autumny, it's the difference between snuggling up under a blanket with a cup of hot cider on a stormy night ('04), and taking a walk in dry, chilly forest of leafless trees in the middle of the night, with a full moon lighting the skeletal trees in sharp relief and creating creepy shadows ('05). In other words, I find '04 to be a rich, warm homey scent, while '05 is more Sleepy Hollow. Both are completely lovely, though!

Preconceived notions: I'm worried that this will be too sweet and buttery on me (and the buttery notes tend to go a bit stale on my skin) - but if I've learned anything, it's that my preconceived notions are often wrong! In the bottle: Whoa... I definitely agree with Astrid's butterscotch pudding assessment! Now, I like butterscotch pudding, but do I want to walk around smelling like it? Hrm... On: What a drastic change - slightly burnt sugar! Which is a good thing - rather that buttery, it's a nice, dry, lightly-spicy/smokey scent. This reminds me a lot of last year's Sugar Skull (I only have an imp, but I didn't get much fruit from it, just burnt sugar). I'm glad I went ahead with getting a bottle of Trick or Treat, despite my misgivings - it's a fun scent that makes me think of toasted marshmallows, or the crust on top of creme brulee. Tasty.

Preconceived notions: I have an imp of the 2004 version somewhere, but I've misplaced it - I recall that on me it was a light and pleasant floral. I'm hoping this will be similar, but a bit heavier on the incense. In the bottle: Ack... rose. On: Very heavy roses. Nothing but roses. Rose is a note that works on me very rarely - and only if it's a minor player in a complex blend - and this is not one of those blends. As it dries down it gets slightly more tolerable... but with so many more scents that are amazing on me as opposed to "tolerable," I can't see myself wearing this. But rose lovers should be quite pleased with it!

Preconceived notions: This was the Halloween scent I was looking forward to most - love the concept, and most of the notes work for me. Booze can be iffy if it's rum, but smoke, musk and sugar usually work. In the bottle: Smells a bit more foody than I expected - a bit buttery (nooo!), yet smokey... very odd. On: Ah, that's better! Now I'm getting a warm, spicy-smoke smell that just shrieks of autumn. I can't smell the booze at all; instead, I get something reminescent of Sugar Cookie, but with smoke (Sugar Cookie is a dry-sweet-spicy scent on me, rather than an overtly foody one). I rather like this one. It take a long time for the musk to emerge, but all stages of the blend are absolutely lovely.

I don't get light florals from Antique Lace, but I do have one bottle that smells different from my other four - it has a carmel-like smell to it. It's still vanilla musk, but with something warmer, sweeter, and more foody added in. It's still lovely, but I don't like it quite as much as the non-carmelly version.

In the imp: Hmm, without looking at the description, I'd guess there's jasmine in here. *looks at description* Why, yes. On: Neither night-blooming jasmine nor regular jasmine are very good with my chemistry - they tend towards cloyingly sweet yet dusty. While I'm not allergic, I get the feeling of breathing in pollen when I smell jasmine scents - I can just picture spiky little particles attacking my nose. In Pannychis, I get hints of other notes - a faint fruitiness from the currant, in particular - but the night-blooming jasmine is just too powerful - the blend is too sweet and heavy, and ends up reminding me less of a moonlit garden, and more of a stagnant-aired, sweltering one at midday. Bummer.

In the imp: Sharp and herbal, very green smelling... a bit sour. A scent that hollers, "WAKE UP!" On: More citrusy - lemony to be precise. I don't play well with lemon most of the time, and this one's going a bit Pledge-like on me. I can sense the amber in the background, trying to fight its way through the lemon-herbal sharpness. Oddly, I can't smell patchouli at all - and while normally I'm not a patchouli sort of girl, I think I'd like Mantis more with a bit of an earthy note to cut the sharp citrus. It's not quite so sharp and unsettling once it's dried down some, but I fear Mantis is still to lemony for my chemistry.

In the imp: Eeeeek, lemon! On skin: Ah, much better. The lemon is still there (and perhaps some form of orange, as well?), but the edge is taken off the citrus notes by loads and loads of amber. Other than the tiniest hint of rose in the background, I'm really not smelling the florals in Versailles - just rich citrus fruits with creamy, golden resiny goodness. It's a rich, golden, decadent scent - I really wasn't expecting to like it this much, based on the notes, but it's quite delicious.

In the imp: Pale and watery florals, with splash of green leaves. On me: As with most of the other reviewers, violet is the most prominent note for me. This is a light, watery violet, though - not the heavy or powder violet scent I've gotten in other blends. I'm finding it delicate and feminine, a little cool - a great scent for springtime. This would be one I'd recommend for a little girl's scent - it's light, fresh, and quietly girlish to my nose. It's not very "me," but I do find it quite pretty.

Preconceived notions: Lilies work for me, but cherry is an iffy note - fine if it's a bright fruity cherry, but if it's the more almondy/artificial/maraschino type, suffice to say I'm not a fan. Embarrassingly - I have no clue what stephanotis smells like. In the imp: Clean, crisp, soapy... nothing here says "red" to me (or "tyrant," or "off with her head" for that matter). On: This stays pretty close to how it smells in the imp - clean and a little bit soapy, yet feminine. It's a bright white kind of smell to me, and I'm not detecting any cherry whatsoever. Frankly, I'm not getting much lily either - so perhaps the stephanotis is what's most prominent on my skin. All in all, it's pleasant and quite pretty, but isn't conjuring up much of the Queen of Hearts for me.

Preconceived notions: This is one of those blends that could go either way on me - I adore most musk scents, but attar of rose is usually horrible on me, and myrrh has a tendency to go somewhat maple-syrupish on my skin. We shall see. In the imp: Huh... this smells a bit fresher and more airy than I expected - I think it's the attar of rose doing it. On: The fleeting "fresh" sensation is gone, and now I'm smelling musk - it's a soft, deep dusky musk, so I'm going to guess that it's black (I'm very grateful that my chemistry doesn't change black musk to a feral/cat pee scent, as I know that's how it goes on some people!). I can smell a bit of myrrh - but it's a small enough amount that it stays sweet, incensey, and vaguely spicy, rather than being overwhelmingly syrupy. The attar of rose and ylang ylang are quite faint on me, and blend in well with the warmer notes. All in all, I'm surprised at how good this is with my chemistry - not an all-time favorite, but great for when I want to feel all dark and mysterious!

In the voodoo oils, I find Chuparosa to be quite uplifting (to my nose, it's happy little humming birds zooming around a huge old-fashioned rose bush that's tangled up in honeysuckle). In the TALs, I'd go for White Light, if you can get your hands on any. Other than that, it really depends on what notes are comforting, uplifting, etc. due to associations. I'm a big fan of mints (Cathode, Mad Hatter) for energizing and uplifting, clean white florals (Pele, The Unicorn) for feeling peaceful, perfumey leathers (Loviatar) for making me feel sexy and confident when I haven't felt that way for too long, and musks (Morocco, Antique Lace) for making me feel like "me" when I'm out of sorts. Fruits and spices are also scent categories that just make me feel good, whether they're happy-fresh-bubbly (Titania, Jester) or warm and homey (Carnal, any of the autumnal blends).

Preconceived notions: I want to love this one, not only for the mythology behind it, but because it's one of my favorite Pogues songs! In the imp: A somewhat damp floral, not too sweet. On: The sandalwood takes over, making it a dry, sweet incense smell instead of the damp floral I smelled in the vial. The neroli provides a bit of sharpness to it. I'm finding it pleasant, but just not very distinctive on my skin. Like others, I'm finding this one "lovely, but not for me."

In the imp: Soapy - ah, that's the orange blossom, which often smells sharply soapy on me. With something slightly perfumey lurking underneath. Very strong. On: Now the leather makes itself known, so I smell like... soapy leather. It's kind of a bizarre mix, though not necessarily unpleasant - it's strong, assertive, unique. I'm picturing a freshly-showered guy in a biker jacket. And suddenly, I like this blend quite a bit. Yep, definitely one to try on a man-creature.

In the imp: Clean and tart; sweet but very green smelling. On: A very pale-green and white floral scent. A little chilly. And... maybe it is just the power of suggestion, but I'm really sensing the "glee-filled undeath" part - this is more *fun* than I expected this scent to be. These aren't mopey spooky ghosts were talking about here - these are ghost running around giggling and bopping each other over the head with calla lilies, when they're not making mischief to mess with the living. There's a definite sense of wheee, to my nose. I'm rather liking this one.

Tushnamatay is very similar to Al-Azif on me. The Tush is lighter and more subtle, and doesn't have the "maple-syrup" wet stage that Al-Azif does on me - but they're definitely very close on my skin. Yum.

In the imp: I'm finding it hard to smell this one - there's a whiff of incensey sweetness, but it's fleeting. On: I'm getting sandalwood, and maybe a bit of light musk. It's velvety soft, and clean - and powdery, which I happen to like if it's done right. This definitely is. Tushnamatay (or "The Tush" as I affectionately refer to it) is subtle and soothing. There's a sort of dryness to it that I associate with "desert" scents like Morocco. It's actually reminding me quite a bit of Al-Azif, my favorite of the Springtime in Arkham scents.

Preconceived notions: Cocoa is generally not a good note for me - it tends to smell dry and stale, rather than rich and creamy. But maybe the other notes will save it? In the bottle: Buttery chocolate - but it somehow doesn't smell like real chocolate to my nose. On: The chocolate is richer than the Lab's other chocolate blends have been on my skin, but still doesn't smell real. At first, chocolate is the only note I can smell, but a buttery/nutty aroma begins to emerge as the oil dries down. To my nose, the pumpkin is overpowered and I can't smell it at all - and sadly, the buttery note does what buttery notes usually do with my chemistry - it becomes dry and stale-smelling, and a bit cloyingly sweet. Sadly, this is the only Pumkin Patch scent that doesn't work for me - but 4 out of 5 ain't bad!